This invention relates generally to packaging and assembling machinery and more particularly to allied machinery which is disposed to store, to feed, to convey or transfer and to position headed components of varying sizes and shapes into a package or product assembly which is disposed on an associated high speed conveying system.
It is known in the prior art that machinery can be used for storing and conveying components, for storing, conveying, sizing and distributing components, and machines have also been used for holding, turning and depositing components for various purposes.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,743,091 for example shows a machine for storing a quantity of headed components such as screws in a feed bowl with a helical feeding ramp and orienting slot for transferring these headed components from the feed bowl to a feed conveyor which in turn delivers the units to a sorting apparatus. The feed conveyor consists of two spaced parallel guide rails which form a feed path down which the screws may slide under the influence of gravity. Further, the upper end of the feed path formed by the parallel guide rails communicates with the orienting discharge ramp of the feed bowl and the output or remote end of the parallel guide rails defines a gauging or sorting station. In this machine, the feed bowl is subjected to vibratory motion so that when the headed screws are properly oriented in the discharge ramp, the vibratory energy transmitted to the screws will cause them to move down the feed path formed by the parallel guide rails. Adjustment screws are provided to move at least one of the guide rails to vary the width of the slot down which the oriented headed components are moved, and thus can be sized to handle various sizes of headed devices.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,743,091 is also characterized by the fact that when the screws move down to the sorting section they are gauged by a suitable gauging system and then kicked in one or the other of the directions by a kicker assembly to sort the screws in accordance with the gauging.
In U.S. Pat. No. 1,947,609 a device is shown which is adapted to remove fabricated glass articles such as tumblers from the mold table and deliver them in an inverted position to a conveyor situated at a substantially different level.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,535,893, 3,743,091, and 1,313,990 provide a vibratory separation device for a component.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,146,617, 2,833,434, 4,364,467, 4,444,537, and 3,877,569 show picker and sorting arrangements and also show the rotation of parts during transfer from one part of the machine to another position.
The use of vacuum for holding the part during movement is shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,587,888, 1,947,609, 3,913,724, 3,232,410, and 2,833,434.
These machines however are not adapted to meet the requirements of high speed automatic packaging, assembly and conveying systems such as the type that are used in the pharmaceutical, medical, electrical, and electronic industries.
The dispenser and component feeder in accordance with the present invention is particularly adapted for a marriage with automated high speed assembly equipment which makes it ideal for many component feeding, packaging, and assembly applications and operations.
The device, due to its simplicity, is relatively low in cost and is adapted to handle a wide range of headed components. Further, changeover for various sized components can be accomplished quickly by adjustment of the feed gap and replacement of the pick-up head to accommodate a particular component.